KUCHING: Abolishing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and giving
special focus to Sabah and Sarawak’s development were among the key
focus put forward by Pakatan Harapan in its Alternate Budget 2018
released today.

The alternative budget was unveiled in Parliament ahead of Prime
Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak tabling the government’s Budget for
2018 in Parliament on Friday.

In the report for Malaysia with the theme “Spend Wisely, Cut Taxes
and Choose Hope”, the party called for a new deal for Sabah and Sarawak,
citing a lack of balanced development for the two states.

“THe long-running economic joke is that the Pan Borneo Highway will
be promised by UMNO-BN at every single election campaign,” Pakatan
Harapan said in the 78-page Alternate Budget.

“What is surprising is that this so-called political fixed deposit of
the UMNO-BN continues to believe this narrative while they sit idly by,
watching the massive developments of highways in Peninsular Malaysia.

“Pakatan Harapan makes a simple promise: we will complete and deliver
a dual-carriageway Pan Borneo Highway that was started by UMNO-BN in
1965.”

The party said that for too long, the state governments have been
denied their appropriate budgets as the pace of development has been
dictated from Putrajaya.

“Pakatan Harapan will honour the spirit of the Malaysia Agreement
1963 of equal partnership,” it said. “To that effect, we will propose a
new deal formula for returning a portion of internally-generated revenue
to Sabah and Sarawak.”

On the point of oil royalties, it agreed in principal to increase the
royalty rates for oil-producing states Kelantan, Terengganu, Sabah and
Sarawak, noting that these four states have the highest incidences of
poverty.

“Furthermore, we hear the demands of Sabah and Sarawak governments to
create their own equivalent oil and gas operations,” it highlighted.

“In the event Pakatan Harapan agrees to such an arrangement, we will have to factor in new computations on the royalty rate.”

Meanwhile, the party also said it would abolish the GST.

“On the issue of GST, we differ starkly from UMNO-BN,” it said.
“Pakatan Harapan is committed to eliminating GST via zero-rating, but we
will keep its reporting system.

“We aim to revert to pre-GST numbers on the matter of consumption
tax. In effect, this means that we will see a revenue shortfall of
RM25.50 billion.

“Pakatan Harapan sees this policy as an absolute necessity in times of economic stagnation and consumer hardship.”

With this shortage, the coalition hoped to collect an additional
RM2.81 billion in corporate income tax, RM1.46 billion in excise duties
on goods (except motor vehicles) and RM1.82 billion in real property
gains tax.

It also expected a 20 per cent increase in car sales following the
abolishment of GST, which would contribute to RM1.93 billion in revenue
through the collection of import tax, excise and motor vehicle license.

“For 2018, we are determined to eliminate RM20 billion from wastage
and corruption by slashing the Prime Minister’s Department budget.”

The party also outlines other suggestions in the report, such as
calling for an independent Bank Negara, measures to reduce household
debt, revamping Malaysia’s revenue policies and focus on
cryptocurrencies and financial technology.

No comments:

DONATE TO SAVE OUR SARAWAK

BERUBAHLAH! 改变!

PKR will bring the change that Sarawak desperately needs. We will return the trees, the lands and the rivers to the people. Corruption will stop. Taib will continue to hand over the State's wealth and resources to Putrajaya and the preferred elite. PKR, led by Baru Bian in Sarawak, will not steal. Thirty years is enough! The time is now! BERUBAHLAH!